MAGA ramping up push to oust Senate parliamentarian after ballroom flop

Appointed during Barack Obama's presidency, attorney Elizabeth MacDonough has been serving as the U.S. Senate's parliamentarian since 2012. But some MAGA Republicans want her ousted from that position, including President Donald Trump —who is ramping up his push to get rid of MacDonough.

Trump angrily railed against MacDonough during a late Wednesday morning, May 20 rant on his Truth Social platform. This was hardly the first time she came under attack from the MAGA movement — Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) is a longtime critic — but according to The Hill's Ashleigh Fields, it marks a renewed push to oust her.

"The parliamentarian's role has been critical as both parties have used budget reconciliation rules to move broad packages through the Senate and avoid a filibuster," Fields explains in The Hill. "Legislation passed under these rules is not subject to the 60-vote filibuster, meaning it can be approved in a party-line vote. MacDonough's position is nonpartisan, and one of her jobs is to decide whether provisions can be included in budget reconciliation under the law. That includes rulings on the Byrd Rule, which forbids provisions that are nonbudgetary from being passed under budget reconciliation."

But Trump is claiming that Fields goes out of her way to be unfair to MAGA Republicans.

On Truth Social, Trump wrote, "Shockingly, Republicans have kept the very important position of 'Parliamentarian' in the hands of a woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed, long ago, by Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid, who ran the Senate for the Dumocrats with an 'iron fist.' Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats — So why has she not been replaced?"

Trump went on to argue that "there are many fair people who would be qualified for that vital job."

"The Republicans play a very soft game compared to the Dumocrats," Trump posted. "It is their single biggest disadvantage in politics. The Dumocrats cheat, lie, and steal, especially when it comes to Votes in Elections, but stick together, whereas the Republicans allow the Elizabeth MacDonoughs of the World to stay in power, and brutalize us. We need THE SAVE AMERICA ACT passed, and NOW — And, likewise, kill the Filibuster, which would give us everything! If we don’t pass at least one of these two provisions quickly, you will never see another Republican President again."

Trump continued, "The Dumocrats will end up with 2 additional States, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and all that entails, including 4 Senators, many Congressmen, and many additional Electoral Votes, and they will also get their dream of a packed United States Supreme Court with their most favorite number — 21 Justices. The Dumocrats will eliminate the Filibuster on the First Day that they get an opportunity to do so."

But MacDonough has her defenders among Senate Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) urged members of his caucus to "respect" her rulings, and Fields notes that Thune has "repeatedly defended the filibuster."

But Tuberville has called for Thune to "fire" MacDonough "ASAP."

In a post on X, the Alabama senator wrote, "Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP."